"Swerve... the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)"

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Via Pitchfork

A revealing moment comes in the form of a sung line toward the end of this track, which closes out Shabazz Palaces' debut record, Black Up: "Play a jam, let my soul unwind." Since a large portion of the record is fractured and dystopian, the relative straightforwardness here serves as one of the biggest surprises on an album overflowing with them. While Black Up plays as an art-damaged Pacific Northwestern cousin of the music coming from Los Angeles' Brainfeeder label, "Swerve..." is reminiscent of the jazzy beats supplied by many of the acts in Seattle's increasingly fertile hip-hop scene. Bouncy 808s, heavily processed drums, and an eerie keyboard line share face time with subtle electronic flourishes, fleshing out the minimalism of the instrumental melody.

The paring down of the more avant signfiers of Black Up can be attributed to peers and friends of Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction, the only guest vocalists featured on the album. As the final few minutes are given to them, the Seattle hip-hop duo sings and raps about mysticism and Afrocentrism with a flair that almost comes across as either stream-of-consciousness or entirely subconscious. By streamlining the cadence of its vocals, the group both offsets and complements Ishmael Butler's free-flowing, impressionistic poetry. It's fitting that the final lyrics of the song (and, by proxy, the album) are, "Still it morphs, this shit is way too advanced." Even on what is clearly Black Up's most conventional moment, the song still contains a number of levels that unfold every bit as much on the one-hundredth listen as they do on the first. It takes a while to fully figure out all of the elements at play here.